All yesterday I was feeling really rundown so I didn’t go to the gym after work.

Last night I made some vegie soup with lots of garlic and ginger and I had it for breakfast and dinner today. I didn’t go to work and haven’t left the house today. It hasn’t been too bad – sometimes I get really bored when I’m sick but today I watched a film with my flatmate B (Love + Hate http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0471018/).

I knitted a bit (my cowl is coming along very slowly because of a stupid loopy stitch it has. Ok it’s not that stupid it’s just slow going), read a bit, slept a bit, now I’m blogging (while my flatmat D watches a Take That DVD of a concert from their reunion tour because she loves them).

I have to get public transport to work every day and it takes at least an hour each way. I get really annoyed with people who get onto trains (or buses) and who stop near the door (cus there’s no seats) and they DON’T move down and so less people can get on and those that do are SQUASHED up. They really ANNOY me. I think: don’t these people get public transport everyday? Don’t they know what it’s like when you can’t get on your train/bus/etc because it seems packed – but it’s not? I’ve started saying to people ‘Can you move down please?’ because they seem to ignore the voice-overs asking people to move right down inside the car. It also annoys me when people won’t get out of the way to let people off the train. I have said to people ‘Can you get out of the way and let us off?’

Anyway, today on my way home it maybe wasn’t such a good idea. A rather large man was blocking the corridor so I reached out and poked him (i’ve taken to poking people who are blocking up a corridor when there are heaps of people packed in and there are more trying to get on) and said in a rather terse manner ‘Can you move down please?’ The woman with him didn’t think this was possible and so I squeezed/pushed past and I think he may have had an intellectual disability and I’m not sure if he spoke English (so I felt like a right bitch) and then when they got off I saw that he was limping so had trouble with mobility. Man! Maybe I should be nicer! What’s that saying about honey and vinegar?! Cus you just never know when you’re gonna look like a total nasty bitch. Whoops.

When I got home from work on Friday, a wonderful parcel was waiting for me from Amazon. It was issue 20 of McSweeney Quarterly Concern.

It’s a beautiful, 199 page, hardcover book. About every 4th page is a picture of a painting. The rest is filled with short stories (I’ve only read one so far). Stuck in the back was a booklet with an extract from a novel (that’s coming out soon from McSweeney’s). It is soooooooo beautiful. I love beautiful books. I now own two McSweeney’s (the other one is issue 13, the comics issue, also hardcover and beautiful). I’d like to get Issue 17 which looks like a pack of (junk) mail and is filled with lots of stuff. I also want Issue 16 which I first saw in Australia at the beginning of this year and I thought it was really beautiful and innovative – it comes in a kind of fold-up folder with a booklet (or 2?), a (hair) comb, some large tarot-like cards with stories written on the back.

Actually here’s the description from a reviewer of Issue 16 from the above link:
“Fabulous short short stories presented in a most unique and beautiful way. This fabric covered book (although book really does not begin to describe this work of art)unfolds like a Gentleman’s travelling case – complete with comb! A magical publication and the perfect gift for an artistic soul. Take it on a train journey with you and drift away with the tall tales and then smarten up as you reach your destination.”

When I got home from work on Friday, a wonderful parcel was waiting for me from Amazon. It was issue 20 of McSweeney Quarterly Concern.

It’s a beautiful, 199 page, hardcover book. About every 4th page is a picture of a painting. The rest is filled with short stories (I’ve only read one so far). Stuck in the back was a booklet with an extract from a novel (that’s coming out soon from McSweeney’s). It is soooooooo beautiful. I love beautiful books. I now own two McSweeney’s (the other one is issue 13, the comics issue, also hardcover and beautiful). I’d like to get Issue 17 which looks like a pack of (junk) mail and is filled with lots of stuff. I also want Issue 16 which I first saw in Australia at the beginning of this year and I thought it was really beautiful and innovative – it comes in a kind of fold-up folder with a booklet (or 2?), a (hair) comb, some large tarot-like cards with stories written on the back.

Actually here’s the description from a reviewer of Issue 16 from the above link:
“Fabulous short short stories presented in a most unique and beautiful way. This fabric covered book (although book really does not begin to describe this work of art)unfolds like a Gentleman’s travelling case – complete with comb! A magical publication and the perfect gift for an artistic soul. Take it on a train journey with you and drift away with the tall tales and then smarten up as you reach your destination.”

On Saturday, P and I went to the gym near his work so I finally got to see where he goes each day! It's a massive business park out near Heathrow.

We joined up at the gym and then we worked out on treadmills, exercise bikes, steppers (or whatever they're called).

Yesterday after work I went to the Virgin gym in Islington. I only worked out for about 45 minutes but I had a meeting to go to.

I’m aiming to go three times a week. I think it will do wonders for my mental and physical health. There’s a (Virgin) gym a couple of tube stops short of home which I plan to check out later this week. After a couple of weeks I plan to do some classes and eventually I plan to buy some swimmers to go swimming (hopefully that will help deal with the winter blues as I see it as such a summer thing to do).

The Virgin gyms are really nice, they have a pool as well as heaps of different equipment and classes and a lounge area with coffee shop and internet access. AND they’re really child-friendly which I think is great. You don’t see kids in the gym or anything but they have classes in the pool and I think maybe special classes for them in the studios as well as having a creche. I love seeing people leaving/arriving/sitting in the lounge with their kid/s.